Surviving the Cannibal
by alleycat1312
Summary: In Sunwing, Shade journeyed to find his father, Cassiel. Now, read and find out what befell the object of Shade's passion. This is Cassiel's story of survival and heroics in the cannibal jungle.
1. Treachery

_Hello and thank you for opening my story. I thought that the Silverwing section could profit from some more stories, so here's one about Shade's father, Cassiel. _

_Any and all advice is welcome._

Chapter 1: Treachery 

It had been a bad idea from the beginning, a well intended idea, but a bad one nonetheless. Sure, go recon the Human Building. And sure, go alone, making those who do know about the venture promise silence. What had he thought to achieve? Now he was trapped, and, even if the building hadn't been a trap, what would he have done? _Oh Cassiel, _he told himself, _you screwed up big time._

Crunch crunch went the Human's boots on the snow. Cassiel's ears stood up, drinking in the sounds of the outside. Pushing his way through several other bats, he reached the wall of his cage and peered out one of the breathing holes. Jolted up and down, he saw trees just beyond the Human Building, laid thick with fresh powder. He took several deep breaths of the cold air. Then, a particularly harsh bounce of the Human's step scrambled the bats inside the box. Thrown around like ragdolls, the discs on their stomachs bounced harmlessly off their furry bodies.

Cassiel found himself forced to the box's center, to its warmest and most crammed area. He was thankful for the heat, but not the claws and wingtips that poked and prodded him. Oh, how he wished to break this cage and soar off into the wintertime forest, but months of experience had taught him the futility of trying to force his way through man-made things. No, the best thing to do was conserve strength. He had to wait for an opportunity, even though he was sick of waiting.

He knew what the discs did, and he knew that the Humans were using them. _The discs explode. They are making us into tiny fire-starters._ The power of fire, terrible and wicked, was sown to his belly, and he couldn't escape it.

Being a Silverwing of exceptional build and strength, Cassiel had been selected as a disc tester. He and representatives from several other species were the first to have discs sown to them and tags put on their ears. Frightened, not knowing what to think, they had quickly submitted to the voice in there mind. Go here. Go to this mark. And they had all gone there.

Fate, Cassiel remembered, had been kind to him that day. His disc had been a dud. He had landed, and nothing had happened. The voice had continued to drone--go here. But he had. Now what? The Humans with their white cloaks and nets had come in and taken him out. But, as he was being carried past other testing sites, he looked through the glass doors and saw other bats land, their discs erupting in fire, the flames reflecting off his glossy eyes. Other Humans traveling the halls had opened these transparent doors, and Cassiel had heard the bats' dying screams ringing in the air. He had seen it all, heard it all. He knew of the treachery of Humans.

The crunch crunch of the snow was replaced by the clunk clunk of boots on concrete. The frigid cold was gone and stale air that stank of metal and oil took its place. _We're inside, _thought Cassiel. Harsh, artificial light seeped in through the breathing holes instead of tender moonlight.

The change frightened some of the bats, and they began to cry nervously. The Humans were speaking above them with slow, deep tones. Cassiel could hear other bats, voices from outside his box.

"Calm down! Quiet!" he shouted.

Some complied, but most paid Cassiel no heed. Annoyance flashed in his chest. Back in his colony he was respected and obeyed. There, he was a figure of authority. Here, he was just another set of wings.

Suddenly, the box dropped. The familiar sway of the human carrier was gone. The box was fixed in place, and the light was shut out. Quickly adjusting to the dark, Cassiel reached over top of his neighbors and looked through a breathing hole. Another box full of bats was pressed against his. The other cries were coming from there. Bats on both sides of the touching walls called out to one another, looking for mates, newborns, and friends. Cassiel lent his voice to the confusion, but he knew there was no one for him. His mate and newborn were far away. He was glad that they were not in this mess, but a regretful part of him half-wished they were with him, keeping him safe from this nightmare.

Grief, unwanted and unexpected, swept over the Silverwing, and he suddenly felt very small. _Oh Ariel, _he sighed. Right now, more then freedom or food or sleep, he wanted to bury his face in her silver fur. He wanted to feel her close to him and breath in her scent. She always smelled of leaves, healthy, green, summertime leaves. He could cuddle up to her on a chilly autumn night before hibernation and be convinced it was summer.

And his newborn. Ariel would have given birth by now. She was probably at this very moment showing their babe the best hunting spots. _Shade,_ he said in his mind, _I wish I could be there and show you how to catch a tiger moth. It's a trick I've been saving for months to show you_. Granted, he didn't know whether their offspring was male or female, but he had always had a strong feeling it was a boy. Perhaps he was too much of a proud male, but the idea of teaching a son all his skills was too much to give up. And, although a little female would have been named Athena, he always addressed his imaginary newborn as Shade.

He came out of his dream to find his cage shaking, shuddering with incredible force. _What's going on? _The bats around him were frightened, some were screaming, others frozen in shock. Another painful shudder, and, then, Cassiel felt it. A feeling of weightlessness. He spread out his wings to steady himself as the entire box tilted downwards. Everything--him, the other bats, the boxes--was moving with immense power and speed. They were flying.

"Flying," he said out loud.

Some bats around him heard and turned to him.

"How?" asked a male Brightwing.

"I don't know," answered Cassiel, "but we definitely are flying. Don't you feel it?"

"They're taking us away," moaned a female bat whose ears appeared too big for her head. "We will never get home!"

"Going south. Towards the Humans' war," commented a gruff looking bat. "And we're going faster then any bat can fly. You're right; you can kiss home good-bye."

"Oh, that's real encouraging," muttered Cassiel as the Large-Eared bat broke down into weeping. He sighed and relaxed onto the floor. The bats around him gave him some room and soon went back to their self-pity.

But the gruff bat was right, he was being taken away. It was another mark to the evil of Humans, another reason why the Promise was a lie. Frieda and the others were going to be so disappointed. _If I make it back, _he thought, _ha, at least Bathsheba will be happy. She never liked me anyway. Too much of a troublemaker._

He dosed off, his famished and abused body finally taking some time for itself. The feeling of flight carried him on a cloud, lulling him into false security. He was dreaming of Tree Haven, of Ariel, of his son...

The sensation changed. They were losing speed and altitude. Cassiel awoke to find the bats in turmoil. They could sense it too. The box was tipping back, and there was a tension within the wall behind him. Cassiel stiffened--his ear tag was humming.

And then he understood. All in less than a second, he comprehended the Humans' plan. They, the little batty fire-starters, were being dropped on the enemy.

He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but the wall of the box slid back, and he was ripped out of the box and into the night.

* * *

Wings were everywhere; the air was punctured with echoes. Confusion. Chaos.

Cassiel was falling. He was going every direction at once, toppling over and over and over. He could not open his wings, and very spray of sound was whipped from his mouth before it could properly form. Blind and falling, he was as helpless as a newborn. The speed, the pressure was pressing on his tiny rib cage, threatening to crush it. He had to slow down; he had to right himself in this insanely fast world.

Slowly, Cassiel edged out his wingtips, and just that tiny bit of surface area slowed his descent considerably. He went out a little more and a little more until he had nearly both his wings out. His world finally right-side up, he turned his focus to the sky. There was a half moon out. Cassiel searched the stars and realized that they were foreign to him. _Where am I?_

Wisps of moisture slapped his face, coating it in frost. He took in a forced breath at the cold shock and looked around for the cause. Another patch was rushing towards him from below. He closed his eyes as it hit. _Clouds, _he thought while sailing through it. _How high did they drop us from if we are falling through clouds?_

Us! We! Where were the other bats?

He had been so distracted by his fall that he had lost sight of the other bats. He had to stop them!

Cassiel trimmed his wings and dove into the next cloud. Coming out of it, he was instantly dried by an intense heat. He didn't pay much attention to the temperature as he launched out washes of sound and caught the flicker of bat wings to his right. Cassiel felt adrenaline and fear course through his body as he pumped his board wings. Most of the bats were not Silverwings, who were built for close quarters and precision; most had longer, bigger, faster wings. He had lots of ground to make up and so little time to work with.

The tag in his ear began to hum, just as he had expected. He couldn't deny that it was a very appealing thing. It conveyed a voice of absolute authority. And, to the bats who had just been dropped out of the sky, it certainly offered a sense of direction. If he could just reach that one building, then there would be no need to worry. He could eat all he wanted, even take a nap. Just relax, it said. He could take his time, there was no rush...

_No! _Cassiel shouted at the voice. _No!_

"Stop!" he yelled to the bats ahead of him.

He was too slow. The ones in front of him were the end of the main group. Further up, Cassiel could make out a Human Building. His guess had been correct. Bats had been transformed into weapons.

"The building is a trap! You'll die. You will explode!" he screamed.

He flapped his wings harder, and the disc in his belly rocked back and forth, stretching the stitches painfully. He had almost reached the last bat, an elderly Graywing. _Just a little further_! he told himself. The City was right in front of him, the targeted Building outlined in silver dots by his tag. Then, it happened.

Every noise Cassiel had ever heard in his life was dwarfed by the explosion of the countless discs. The Building erupted in white flames that lit up the night. The boom blinded him in both ears. He tried to reach for the Graywing in his blindness, but the heat waves drove him back. The elderly bat flew right through the heat to the burning Building, and soon another burst of flames hit the night sky. Human alarms were sounding. Cassiel's whole world was fire and sound.

Sections of the Human Building exploded on their own, and the flames flew up higher. Humans were running out now. They were yelling, and some started their machines to get away. Far above it all, Cassiel was trying desperately to stay in flight. His disc was suddenly very heavy. He pushed his body to the limit and went up with the rising smoke. High above, he circled the Building, trying to locate any survivors. Perhaps they turned back; maybe they had a dud, like he had. But, looking at the greedy flames below him, Cassiel knew there would be no survivors.

He had to get away. He didn't understand the mechanics of Human things, but Cassiel knew for sure that his disc would explode if he stayed near the rising flames. He turned away, not caring which direction he went. He was in shock. All of those bats, all of his kin...dead. Exploded. Murdered by Humans.

He flew towards the forest, his disc dragging him down. It occurred to him that he didn't know where he was or what kind of forest he was about to enter, but he only wanted to get away from that Hell. Then he realized that he had to get rid of his disc or he couldn't land. That got his attention.

He couldn't do it himself; he needed a tool. Cassiel looked about frantically for something sharp. He had used nearly all his tired body's energy. His wings strokes were slow and agonizing, and his breath was ragged. _I have to land._

Dawn was breaking over the horizon and spilling into the thick forest. Clouds that had been massing for days were drifting over to Cassiel's area. Suddenly, it was raining.

Cassiel spotted a tree with thorns along its trunk. He flew close and dug his claws into the bark. Water hit his face as he moved his belly to a thorn's tip. Carefully, he guided the tip between the stitches and his belly. Another fat water drop hit him between the eyes. He pulled and half the stitches came out. Blood ran through his fur.

It was raining like nothing Cassiel had ever experienced. It was as if the air was becoming water. The trees were so thick, and, yet, the rain got through them. Storms on the seashore during migration had pelted him like bullets, but this rain was hard and fat, like a sheet of heavy water. _At least it is warmer._

He managed to thread the thorn through the last stitches and pulled. The disc came free and went with the rain to the forest floor. A muted blast and flash of light followed. _It's off, _thought Cassiel.

He clung to the tree for life, but the rain came down harder. A bucket was dumped on the Silverwing, and he went crashing to the ground. Cassiel landed on a pile of dead leaves, and the water kept coming. It filled his nose and ears and mouth, drowning him right there on the floor. He flailed about, trying to shield his face. He rolled over and scrambled on all fours across the pile of leaves. At the base of the thorny tree, the rain was not as much. One of its roots pressed up through the soil, forming a little niche with the ground, and Cassiel sought refuge in it.

Above him, the rain continued to fall to the floor, driving itself into the ground. _What is this place? _Cassiel managed to ask himself. He was so exhausted; he was going to pass out. It didn't matter that he was on the ground and barely protected. If he didn't sleep now, he would surely die. He didn't have a choice.

Cassiel did manage one thought before collapsing. _I am alone. _Alone in a strange place. He had made it through so much, but that didn't stop Cassiel from crying, his tears mixing with the rain that dripped over the root's edge.


	2. Survival and Resolve

_Here is chapter two. For my two reviewers, thanks. I will be away for the next two weeks, so this will have to be it until then. Later!_

Chapter 2: Survival and Resolve

It rained all day and well into the next night. The water washed away Cassiel's scent and blood and kept the few predators that ventured out in the downpour from finding him. He slept, wet but warm, under the tree root, wrapped up in his wings. Above him, life and death went on. Fate, once again though, had spared him.

He woke up feeling groggy and disoriented. _What happened? _He yawned, revealing rows of pointy teeth, and stretched his stiff wings. They hit the root above him, and Cassiel was instantly on alert. He was on the ground, under something, and soaking wet. The nightmare came rushing back to him, and he remembered the fire.

He shivered and rubbed his wings across his body to warm himself. There was a steady pain in his stomach, which was crusted with blood and had some loose stitches remaining. Cassiel set to work licking his wound clean and drying himself. His whole body ached as he stretched his legs and flexed his claws. He wished he could go back to sleep. But it was night, and he needed to get in the air to hunt and find out more about his surroundings. The ground was no place for a bat.

He started to crawl out from under his shelter to take flight, hungry for the nighttime air, when he felt a vibration in the ground. He froze. The vibrations were soft but close, like something big carrying itself very lightly. With just his nose visible from under the root, Cassiel Silvering waited. Suddenly, a giant, velveted paw landed next to his root. Using only his eyes, Cassiel could see the outline of a huge cat above him. He could hear the beast's breathing and stopped his own. It was a jaguar, the legendary cousin of the northern forest cats.

The jaguar's ears twitched, searching for any sound of prey. It stood perfectly still, and Cassiel was frozen below it. Did it now he was right there, next to its paw? Surely the jaguar had good night vision and excellent hearing. Was it waiting for him to move so it could snatch him up in one bite?

His tiny heart was beating so fast, it felt like it would burst through his skin. He was sure the jungle cat could hear it. His insides turned to ice as the jaguar turned its head. It lifted the paw next to Cassiel and licked it with its rough tongue, eyes gleaming in the night light. Then, it moved on.

Cassiel remained where he was for several seconds, trying to remember to breathe. How many more times could he cheat death? Well, if he wanted to save his luck, he needed to get off the forest floor.

Cassiel crawled out from under the root and sniffed the air. It was heavy with the odor of rotting leaves. He sent out a wave of echoes. They bounced back to him, and he knew there weren't any other predators near-by. He stretched his wings, and then jumped clumsily into the air.

_A jaguar? _he thought as he flew up on sore wings, looking for a roost. _I must be in the southern forest, in the jungle. _That explained why he didn't know any of the constellations, why the plants looked so weird, why it rained so heavily, and it corresponded with what the gruff bat had said. He found a suitable branch and hung upside down. Then, another thought came to him. In the Human Building, he had heard rumors of giant bats from the south, from the jungle. Bats that ate other bats and were terrible to behold. He, personally, had never seen them, but he had seen the jungle. It had been one of the many rooms he had been carried passed on his way to and from the testing site. Looking around, he nodded his head. Yes, this looked just like that room.

_Does that mean there are cannibal bats here? _His hair stood on end, and the same icy fear that had come with the jaguar filled him again. To be eaten, by another bat? How could the world be so cruel?

He searched the branches near him and sprayed out sound in every direction. There was something above him, but it wasn't a jungle bat. He sent out more sound that way, and the shape of a bug formed in his mind. But it was a monstrous bug! It was larger than Cassiel, with a beaked mouth and a spiny body. If it hadn't been moving towards him, Cassiel realized he probably would have mistaken it for a twig.

The bug extended one long leg down to Cassiel's branch, and the rest of its body followed. It was coming for him, beak wide open.

Cassiel, after seeing the jaguar, wasn't that scared, but he certainly didn't want to roost there anymore. His stomach growled. _Let's turn the tide._

He dropped from the branch as the bug landed above him. He circled up and behind it, weaving a net of sound around it. The bug froze. Where had the bat gone? There was noise all around it, confusing it with different glimpses of bat wings. Then, there was a terrible pain in its midsection, and it saw no more.

Cassiel crunched down on the hard exoskeleton and could taste the nourishment inside it. He bit it in half, and one piece fell off the branch and down to the forest floor. Cassiel didn't mind though, there was still plenty for him. Alert and periodically sending out sound, Cassiel ate the giant bug. It tasted strange, like a mix of moth and tree bark. _Perhaps impersonating a tree for so long made it taste like one,_ Cassiel thought.

His belly nearly full, Cassiel hung from the branch and pondered on his situation. What was he going to do? He could fly north; it would be easy enough to find if he flew by the sun. But who knew how many miles of jungle he would have to travel. Inevitablily, he was going to run into trouble, like a cannibal bat. Also, what about the others? The Humans weren't done with their attacks. He couldn't stop the Humans, but maybe he could stop the bats, or at least some of them, from killing themselves.

"Argh," he groaned outloud. He just wanted to get home and see Ariel and Shade. But he couldn't leave knowing he could have saved dozens, maybe hundreds of bats. He felt so torn.

_Well, it doesn't matter anyway because you aren't doing either tonight. You need to find a safe spot to wait out the day. That's your top priority, Cassiel. Survival. _His inner voice was right, and Cassiel knew it.

He alighted and flew back towards the Human City. There would be less jungle animals near the city, which meant a lower chance of being eaten. Also, the City was where the next load of bats would be dropped. He cut through the tight branches, thankful for being a Silvering, and called out sound. His echo vision was full of silvery branches and alien creatures. Within only seven hundred wingbeats of travel he had seen more kinds of creatures than all his years up north had revealed. There were birds, with wild plumage like the extravagant jungle flowers, nestled in their nests. Lanky beasts that swung from tree to tree had chattered at him as he flew by. Once, he had landed on a branch to observe a caterpillar as long as his wing and had met a giant spider that had crept towards him with ominous intent.

Now, he was on the edge of the jungle. Where the trees ended, thick tangles of vegetation sloped down a hill towards the City.The half-moon and the city lights flooded his vision. From his vantage point, Cassiel could make out the rubble of the destroyed Building. Only a few walls remained standing, and Human machines were parked all around it. Part of him felt vindicated at seeing the Human's injury, but the feeling didn't last long. There were so many other undamaged Buildings; the Humans had so much. And how could he be happy about something that had taken so many lives of his kind? No, the whole thing was bad.

Cassiel kept flying, past the City and up a hill. His wings were acting up. They felt like lead and would occasionally break out into spasms, at which point his flight became erratic and dangerous. He needed to land and rest, but he hadn't found a safe haven yet. He felt that the hill was his best bet. The foliage was thinner there, and he would be able to spot any predators coming up the hill. But, when he reached the top of the hill, he found no trees of safety, only a lone bush surrounded by a field of fragrant flowers.

He roosted in the bush with a sigh. This was no good. The smell of the flowers, musky and rich, was overpowering. He would never be able to smell anything. A breeze ruffled the sea of flowers and their stems and leaves rubbed against one another. _I'll never be able to hear anything either. And there's no shelter from the rain. _That was three marks against this place, enough for him to leave. Although, Cassiel could be rash and spontaneous, this survival issue was forcing him to think things through.

He left the bush and circled above it, getting his bearings. The jungle was level with him, the city was below him, and above him was a cliff. He sent several echoes up the cliff, and an interesting image came back to him. There was a Human on top of the cliff. Cassiel sent out more sound. The Human was a statue, made of metal, some two hundred wingbeats up.

_Here we go, _Cassiel thought and began to rise. The night was paling; dawn was coming. _Just a little more time, _Cassiel mentally told the night with a tired resolve. He was going to reach that statue.

Halfway up the cliff, Cassiel's wings began to shake and didn't stop. The air was harsh in his lungs, and he was sucking it in like a dying thing. He set his jaw and continued pushing up. His stomach didn't feel so full anymore, and his body was telling him to stop. But there was nowhere to stop. The cliff face was nothing but rocky soil. Cassiel felt like he had the previous night, on the verge of collapse. He was getting dizzy, but he was determined to roost at the statue. It was calling to him.

He skirted the top of the cliff, kicking up dust, and reached the summit. His wing strokes weak, he dipped down and nearly crashed. He flew the last dozen wingbeats and dropped onto the statue's metal base. His fur was too smooth for the metal, though, and he slid down the Human feet, scrambling for a hold. The stone pedestal that the statue stood on caught him, and Cassiel, after catching his breath, turned and looked around him.

The top of the cliff bore the scars of battle. The trees were scorched, and the ground was in upheaval, with giant mounds set up and holes blasted in it. _Was this a failed attempt with bats, or did the Humans fight each other here? _Cassiel wondered.

He looked up at the statue. The male Human had its arms outstretched to the cliff, an expression of benign guidance on his face. Cassiel thought he must view himself as some great protector of the city. _Well, you've done a great job so far. _

The statue had obviously been caught in the attack. The metal was corroded and chipped in some places. Its entire backside had been scorched by fire, and something had blown off half of the right arm. The statue was hollow, and Cassiel flew to the opening. _This is it, _he told himself.

He probed the opening with sound. Nothing but empty space returned to his mind's eye. He veered away from the stub and surveyed the jungle around him. The burnt trees in the foreground acted as a window to the deeper layers of forest. It was a good spot.

He flew into the statue and was greeted with a dry, warm cavern. Studying the grooves and curves, Cassiel realized there weren't many hanging spots on the statue's inside, but there was plenty of room on the floor. He landed on the bottom. If they drew close to one another, the entire male Silvering population would fit on the floor. Yes, this had more than enough room for all the bats he intended to save.

Already, Cassiel could feel his body getting use to his fatigue. His breathing had relaxed, and his wings had stopped shaking. Outside, it was growing lighter by the second, but he had to do one more thing before he could stop for the night.

He zipped out of the statue's exit and vaulted himself upwards with a powerful downstroke. He went up, high above the canopy. The view was amazing. He could see for miles in very direction. The jungle top, the city below, even a river to the east--he could see it all. _This is what I need._

He came down in gentle circles. With a graceful flip, he latched onto the Human's smallest remaining finger, and watched the light on the horizon. He had the perfect haven. Statue Haven, he would call it.

Feeling safe and confident, Cassiel settled in to watch the sunrise.


	3. Rescue

Chapter 3: Rescue

The night yielded nothing, neither flames nor bat wings. Traveling along the muggy air came the constant calls of mating frogs and jungle insects. The stars were quiet and cold, completely foreign to the lone Silverwing at Statue Haven. Hanging from the Human's smallest finger, as was becoming his custom, Cassiel gazed out at the city below. _No one's coming tonight, _he sighed.

The last three nights had been like this, and it worried Cassiel. Sure, no drops meant that no more bats were being killed. But what if his had been the only one? What if he was stranded here, unable to leave because of his conscious? What is he kept waiting for someone else, and no one came? But, there had been so many bats at the Human Building, how could the Humans only attack once?

He alighted from the finger and slowly flew down to the statue's base. Searching the nearby dead logs and scorched grass, he found several beetles and caterpillars. He warily avoided a spiny caterpillar and veered away from a horned beetle. His time in the jungle had taught him what bugs to eat, and what to stay clear of. He homed in on a group of shiny, hornless beetles and plucked one from its dead log. Crunch. It was good, and Cassiel doubled back for more.

When the whole family of beetles had been devoured, Cassiel returned to his roost. The jungle heat was oppressive. Cassiel scratched at a patch of loose fur and the hairs fell out. He was molting, losing his fur to the warmth. It didn't bother him, but it was interesting.

He looked up at the stars. How could he wasn't think about food and molting? He was thinking about survivors. If the Humans made another attack with bats, and, if he did manage to rescue some from the flames, how was he going to safety lead them here to Statue Haven? The question had been silently butting its way into his mind since his first night. _I need a path, _he thought.

He looked at the cliff-face and immediately crossed that off the list. It was far too perilous for a group of confused and possibly injured bats to take and survive. A path through the jungle, up the gentle hill, was the only way. He took off and flew to the trees.

Warily, he flew through the jungle. The ground was thick with vegetation, and the trees were all covered in moss or vines. Cassiel hated all the vegetation. His eyes were almost useless in the thickness. He had an unavoidable feeling that something was going to jump out at him from each leaf. His fur provided him some camouflage in the dark, but he still didn't feel comfortable. _And I never will. _

A vine fell down from the canopy, and Cassiel veered around it. Sending out sonar, he made his way down the hill, always trying to keep the jungle edge visible. Tiny bugs formed in his mind's eye, and Cassiel suddenly found himself in a swarm of fireflies. They stuck in his fur and lit him up like a glow stick. Cassiel flew up and hung from a low hanging branch, careful to sweep it with sound first, and began to clean his fur ferociously.

He was almost finished when he heard wing beats. He froze, tongue still in his silver fur. There was a creak about them, like leather, that was all too familiar to him. It was a bat, and no doubt about it. Wanting to shut his eyes and wish himself away, Cassiel forced himself to focus on the jungle before him.

A pair of huge, black wings, a mere forty wingbeats away, passed by. A cannibal bat.

Cassiel's heart skipped a beat.

The sound of the wings faded, and Cassiel relaxed. He closed his mouth and decided that he'd had enough for tonight. Suddenly, the jungle got very quiet, and, from deep within himself, Cassiel heard a faint voice. _Fly!_

Cassiel dove off the branch, and a pair of jaws closed in on empty space. Before he had time to contemplate the voice, he was forced to race for his life. The cannibal was upon him, spitting sound and wielding its wicked claws. Cassiel's mind was a blur. He was dipping, weaving, slicing through the air, desperate for a maneuver that would shake the bigger bat. But, wherever he went, his hunter followed.

The cannibal was almost on top of him; he could feel hot breath on his tail. Then, the chase ended. A creeper had reached out from its tree trunk to get more sunshine earlier that day, but Cassiel didn't notice it in his panicked flight. He came around the tree and became tangled in it. The air was knocked out of him, and the creeper swung back and forth, scrapping him against the tree.

He gasped for air to fill his lungs. This was the end. He was screaming and punching the vine, but that only entangled him further. He didn't want to die like this.

The cannibal stopped and watched the poor Silverwing swing back and forth. She laughed. Threw back her pointed nose, opened her mouth of teeth, and let out a terrible sound.

"Little bat," she said after recovering, "all caught in a vine. He tried to fly, but I still get to dine."

Finding great humor in her rhyme, the cannibal laughed again. Cassiel stared at her, eyes open in horror. She was several times his size, with dark black fur. Pumping long, supple wings to stay up, the personification of all his fears was there in front of him. But, at the same time, he noticed that his enemy looked thin. Her ribs were showing, and what should have been toned muscle was an abdomen of thin knots. Her face was gaunt, but that only added to her killer appearance.

"But we won't eat him yet," she said.

She came forward and grabbed the tangle of bat and vine with her feet. One swift bite of her incisors and the bundle was freed. She flew away west, carrying Cassiel, and, despite his fear, Cassiel couldn't help but marvel at the cannibal's power. Her silent wings cut through the night, propelling them forward. Every one of her wingbeats equaled three of his.

All the while, Cassiel was mapping out the area. He managed to force his face through the vine, but his wings were still wrapped in the creeper. If he hadn't been in such danger, he would have wondered why the voice had saved him just to allow him to be captured. But, as it was, Cassiel was desperately trying to engrave the path she took into his mind and to think of a way to escape. He began to bite through the vines, but they were woody and tough.

"Oh, none of that," said his hunter. She brought the mass of vine to her face and hissed. Cassiel's heart jumped as her flared nose and cruel teeth at him. He stopped biting through the vine.

They were going deep into the jungle. The vegetation grew denser, and the sounds of life were becoming louder.

After an hour had passed, Cassiel noticed the cannibal was beginning to tire. She was breathing in short gasps, and he felt her muscles weakening. And a thought came to him, _why is she taking me somewhere? Why didn't she just eat me there and then?_

There was no further time for thought though as they burst through a final wall of plant growth into pale moonlight.

A pyramid rose out of the ground, broken, chipped, and covered in vines. Its faded face caught and reflected the moon's light out into the small clearing surrounding the pyramid. It was as if the earth had decided to extend a horn or tooth or claw up towards the sky to rip it apart. The pyramid made Cassiel shiver; its existence confirmed all his nightmares.

Silhouettes of cannibal bats were everywhere. As soon as they saw the female and her captive, they gathered, tongues salivating. They surrounded her, and she hissed at them as she flew towards the pyramid. The giant triangle took up all of Cassiel's vision, dominating his senses and making him feel smaller than he already was.

Suddenly the crowd parted and a crippled old bat flew into their midst. Cassiel's captor stopped and hovered, her grip becoming tighter. Cassiel could feel her tension and hoped against hope that he wasn't going to be handed over to this creature. Although patches of his fur were missing and he had difficulty hovering, the bat was still twice Cassiel's size and appeared better off then the surrounding cannibals. _He is a bat of authority, _Cassiel thought.

"In the name of the King, you will surrender that prey to me," commanded the bat. His voice was gravely, and he stank of rotten meat. Cassiel gagged.

The female tried to fly around him, but the crowd moved to stop her. They were enjoying the drama.

"Give it to me," the bat repeated.

"No. This is for my son. He is sick," said the female. Despite his impending death, Cassiel felt pity for the mother. She only wanted to feed her child. Too bad little bat was the entrée. Cassiel began to saw at the vines again. Now that everyone was distracted, maybe he could free himself. _But what then?_ He asked himself.

"If the berries I gave him didn't work then he is as good as dead. Now, how dare you defy the King and his servant. I--"

"Voxzaco," said a voice, dark and smooth as midnight.

The crowd parted and bowed their heads in reverence as the largest cannibal bat yet appeared. Flanked by two guards, he was magnificent in appearance, with sharp eyes and a white patch on his muscular chest. He addressed the cripple.

"What is going on here?" he asked, now hovering with everyone else.

"My King," Voxzaco replied, "Jasmine is insulting your majesty by refusing to yield her prey to me."

"To you?" the King questioned and the older bat cringed.

"No, Lord of the Vampyrum Spectrum, I meant to you. I am your eternal servant."

"That is better," the King said. He studied Cassiel. Their eyes met and the smaller bat could read his death in those eyes.

"Give it to me," he ordered Jasmine.

Cassiel watched as his captor's eyes darted around, looking for an escape. His heart was beating madly as he waited for the King to react. And he did.

The cannibal King flared his wings, expanding them to well over three feet. His voice came out in a hiss that became a roar. All the Vampyrum gathered fell back except the guards and Jasmine. Her eyes flew wide in horror and she yelped in fear, but she did not hand over Cassiel.

Then the King lunged and several things happened at once. Jasmine pulled up to avoid him, and the King hit Cassiel instead. The bundle was ripped from Jasmine's claws and plummeted to the ground as the King's incisors sliced through several of the vines.

Cassiel was pulling and biting at the vines to free himself. He managed to squeeze one wing out but the ground was approaching too quickly. He tore through another tendril and then he was free. Cassiel fell head over heels, hitting leaves and battering the air with his wings. Then he straightened out and was flying. He immediately felt the eyes of hundreds of cannibal bats on his tail, least of which was the King himself.

_Fly!_

And Cassiel was pumping his wings, his chest straining with each beat. His heart was on fire as the cannibals pursued him. He could hear their hissing and the sound of leaves hitting leathery wings. Cassiel closed his eyes and focused on his sound vision. Everything was coming at him and from every side. He was dipping under branches and barrel rolling away from thorns and vines. Panic was everywhere; he could sense death approaching.

A bat wing hit him from behind, and Cassiel smashed into a tree trunk. He slid down the rough bark, trying to hold on, struggling to get air back in his lungs. The massive snout of the King appeared in his mind's eye, and Cassiel did the only thing his stricken body could do. He jumped.

The Silverwing plummeted to the forest floor. The fall was too fast and Cassiel couldn't see or hear anything. His vision was a blur. His outstretched wing snagged on a thorn, causing blood to fall, and the rest of his body was battered by the tropical growth until his tiny mass hit a pile of leaves on the ground.

Again, the air was knocked out of him, but he had to move. _I have to survive_, he thought.

Cassiel crawled under the rotting leaves, hoping the odor would hide him like it had the first night, hoping the cannibals would leave.

The roar was terrible. All the forest fell silent as the King expressed his anger. His minions gathered around him, waiting for orders.

"Search the floor. You five, go out one hundred wingbeats. Find that bat's scent. I want it," he shouted. Below them, Cassiel shivered despite the sweat in his fur.

_I have to make a break for it,_ he thought. _But I can't outfly them, _his mind answered him. _And I can't lead them to the Statue._ He needed a distraction.

The night was halfway over. Even at their greatest intensity, the star's light couldn't reach into the forest. A rare wind blew through the sweltering jungle. Cassiel popped his nose out of the leaves and breathed in. A smell so gut-wrenching he gagged met his nose. Fire. Smoke.

An explosion shook the trees around him. Above, the Vampryum wheeled and hissed in surprise. Cassiel was sure of it—the Humans were dropping more bats.

There was no time to think. Cassiel shot out of his hiding place and flew towards the explosions. Immediately his pursuers were behind him, and Cassiel could feel himself being probed by a dozen echoes. He sent a splash of sound behind him, hoping to deflect their volleys. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn't. He didn't stay to see.

The jungle ended. Cassiel could see the city. It stretched out before him, alive with fire and human alarms. Somehow he had come out on the end of the city opposite his hill and Statue Haven. It was several thousand wingbeats until the city ended at the hill. Cassiel would have to fly through the battle zone.

A giant shadow blocked out the moon, and Cassiel knew it was the Human's flying machine. He pushed his wings harder and entered the city, the cannibals close on his tail, following the scent of his blood.

The smoke was terrible. He choked and sputtered along, clinging to the shadows. And then a cannibal was upon him, the rank of its breath all the notice he had before a searing pain took hold of his right hind leg.

Cassiel turned and raked the cannibals face with his claws, screaming sound into its face. His attacker let go and dipped below as another bat came from above. The second bat slammed Cassiel down towards the first's waiting jaws. The teeth bit at his chest, grabbing a mouthful of silver fur and puncturing his skin, making him bleed.

This bat wasn't the King. He wouldn't eat him, but it was only a matter of time. All the muscles in Cassiel's body tensed and exploded with a violence he hadn't know he had. He was a fury of sound, wings, claws, and teeth. Ripping at the bigger bat's face, he severed its flared nose and tore its ears to ribbons. Cassiel could taste blood. The cannibal cried out in pain, saying he was blind, falling to the ground.

Then there were wings--thousands of wings that beat against the night stars and carried death on their stomachs.

"I have you now!" came the King's voice.

Cassiel turned, still snarling and ready to fight, and saw the monster mere wingbeats away. The King trimmed his wings and was swooping down on him when the first bat hit.

The world disappeared. Cassiel felt the earth beneath him explode, the magnitude of its upheaval throwing him higher into the sky. Dirt and rock collided with him, but he was numb to the pain now. He was blind; there was no sound and no sight. And then the heat of the jungle was replaced by the inferno of the fire. Cassiel was falling into the flames. He didn't know where up or down was, but he knew to fly away from the blaze.

He could hear the cries of the cannibals, but then they were engulfed in the storm of the explosions. The nightmare was back. Absolute terror took over Cassiel. Everything he had ever known—direction, moonlight, family, water, love—vanished from his mind. What replaced it was survival, the need to not be consumed by the fire, to not die.

The flight seemed to last forever. How could it last forever? How could it not? The fire licked his skin, and the smoke carried him out of the horror and into the night air. But it was no relief. The world was dead.

This second wave of discs had decimated the city. There was little left but some stone walls and metal scraps, glowing and burning in the aftermath. There were echoes and cries from Humans everywhere, obscuring his own echoes.

_Get to Statue Haven._

The voice was so right. He had to get there. And suddenly all of his injuries began to scream. His left wing was ripped, not too badly. The blood was already crusted and his wings was numb. His hind leg and chest were still bleeding slow, painful drops. Every flap of his wings was like a spike digging deeper into his chest muscles. There was no numbing this hurt. It was too excruciating. But this inside was bare. All the brutality of the last few minutes, all the destruction has emptied him of any feelings. This void was a relief; at least he couldn't weep, not yet.

The hill was in front of him; the apocalypse was behind him. He would never be able to climb the hill, and he was too tired to find his path.

Cassiel gave up. He landed in the weeds at the foot of the hill. This was absolute suicide, sitting on the ground, but death had never seemed so tame when compared to living. All his ideas of survival and saving others now seemed ridiculous. How could he even save himself? He sighed, closed his eyes and tried to sleep. If he was killed in his sleep, then that was that.

Dawn was coming. The sky was pale near the horizon.

Something moaned in the twilight.

Cassiel was brought out of his self-imposed agony. Someone was out there.

He sat up, crouched and ready for flight. The sound came again. It was above him, in the bushes he had rejected as a home some days ago. He cast out sound but the many branches prevented a clear image from returning to him.

Did he want to investigate? If it was a disc-carrying bat, what would he do? If it was a trick by the cannibals, how could he escape again? The moan sounded like something in pain, not a menace. _It's a disc-carrier. It needs your help,_ said his inner voice, and, despite the void inside, Cassiel lifted his exhausted body into the air.

"Hello?" he called to the bush.

The whimper ended and was replaced by silence. A tense silence.

"My name is Cassiel Silverwing. Do you have a disc? I can help you," he was hovering a dozen wingbeats from the thing's hiding place.

No answer.

"Look, I have no disc on me anymore," he said and spread himself for inspection. "I removed it, and I can get yours off too. This place isn't safe and day is coming. I can offer you shelter."

"Why are you bleeding?" asked a deep voice.

"I was attacked," Cassiel replied. He was growing weaker just hovering here, and this was stupid, talking to a bush at dawn. The pit inside him was being filled with annoyance. But it was an emotion, and he was happy for it.

Cassiel turned his head to look at the city behind him. Flames were still reaching up into the sky, but the earth and air were still. He turned back to the something with authority.

"Let me help you and live or stay here and die. Choose."

The bush shuddered and a bat came out. He was bigger than Cassiel but smaller than a cannibal. He had dark fur and a curious tail--a full tail, like a rat's. The disc swung from his stomach, and Cassiel's heart began to race again. The big bat approached the Silverwing with caution. Who was this tiny bat who offered assistance and spoke with authority?

"I saw them explode," said the strange bat quickly, "So I stopped. I landed very carefully."

Cassiel flew in closer, careful to not move too fast.

"My name is Caliban."

Cassiel studied the disc and its stitches.

"Okay, Caliban. Follow me," said Cassiel.

He flew directly up, and Caliban followed.

"Where are we going?" Caliban asked.

"We need to be high enough to not get caught in the explosion. And my shelter is this way," Cassiel answered.

"What about the dawn?"

Cassiel looked around and sure enough, the day was almost there. But there was still smoke in the air and it formed a pretty good veil between Statue Haven and the city.

"Don't worry about it," Cassiel said.

They were more than halfway up the cliff face when Cassiel stopped.

"This is going to hurt. I have to rip the stitches out. I have to fly in from underneath and you might have to carry me for a little bit. Can you do that?"Caliban looked at Cassiel and nodded.

Cassiel dipped under, his aching body protesting the swift motion. He furled his wings and carefully gripped at the bigger bat. Right away he felt the stiffening of Caliban and their altitude fall slightly. But then Caliban was beating harder and they were steady.

The events of the night had homed Cassiel's concentration. He deftly sliced through Caliban's skin, hooking the stitch with his incisors and tearing it out. He heard his patient's gasp of pain and kept going. There was blood, more blood, on his face, its salty taste flooding his senses.

Then the disc was free.

"Fly up!" Cassiel shouted and hurled himself upwards.

Caliban chased him up the hill. They reached the top and heard the disc explode beneath them. Caliban looked down and reared back in horror as a chunk of the hill shot up, the dirt and grass spraying out onto the city. Cassiel didn't look.

"Welcome to Statue Haven, Caliban," he said.


End file.
